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Vitruvian HACKS: Stonefist The Gorgon Hunter by Boss Fight Studios

Hey, remember Vitruvian HACKS? Yeah, it was that Kickstarter from 2014 that took forever to deliver. I checked out the initial four figures from my Backer Reward as well as the two Exclusives and then these got buried by the excitement of the Mythic Legions (that other Kickstarter) figures rolling in. Well, I haven’t forgotten HACKS and it’s long past time that I swing back and open up another one of these beauties. Today I’m going with Stonefist The Gorgon Hunter. And let me tell ya, this dude is a badass!

It’s been a while since I’ve showcased the regular packaging for these figures, especially since the two Exclusives just came in little boxes. Stonefist features a carded bubble with some vivid, colorful artwork and some tabs around the plastic front that allow you to slide the card back and get at the figure without damaging anything. The figure comes on a little tray with the bulk of his accessories in a baggie behind the tray. The back of the card shows other figures that are available and gives you a little blurb about the character. When Stonefist ran afoul of a Gorgon, he blinded himself to prevent the curse from completely petrifying him. All it got was his left arm. Now he’s a blind dude with a stone arm, who makes a living hunting Gorgons. HOLY SHIT, THAT’S RAD!!!

Stonefist features the basic HACKS 4-inch male buck. I’ve looked at it almost half a dozen times now, so I’m not going to dwell on it too much. I will note that the head sculpt is pretty soft and because he’s blind, the eyes are painted so that they’re not very well-defined. It’s intentional, but it does give him something of a mannequin head look about him. The painted scar helps, and quite frankly, he’ll be wearing his helmet all the time, so it’s not a big deal for me. The articulation is as good as always and because these figures are modular, they can be taken apart at the joints without much difficulty for a little mix-and-match action. Even all the armor can come off of him.

His greaves are more ornate than what we saw on the Spartan figures and feature some ornate sculpted scrollwork. The coat of armor is also different from any of the initial figures I’ve featured here. Besides being a new sculpt, it has a flashy deco consisting of mostly white with some red and blue accents and thankfully it’s not as patriotic looking as it might sound. Yes, it’s a bit unorthodox, but he’s blind and maybe the armor dealer was having a little fun with him. I really dig the sculpt of this new armor and I love that it has a loop for one of his swords in the back, but it doesn’t fit the figure quite as well as the Spartan armors do and mine will not stay pegged in at the sides for love or money. Overall, the paint is solid for a figure in this scale, I like the gold they use all the applications are mostly clean. There is, however, some slop concerning the red around the “skirt.”

The helmet is a style we saw before, but this is a brand new deco with more of that lovely gold paint and some pretty rad teeth printed on the sides of the cheek protectors. It can be tough to sit the helmet right because it’s not easy to see where his eyes are, but I guess it doesn’t matter as far as Stonefist is concerned. In fact, if he wants to freak out his enemies, he can just wear it backwards.

Being true to his name, Stonefist’s left hand and part of his arm are indeed petrified. Boss Fight proved they could do a really nice stone effect with the Cursed Spartan and here we see that effect again. It looks great and creates a very cool backstory for this guy. If it were me, I’d probably just go around punching Gorgons with my stone fist. “There, Snake Face! Have a taste of your medicine!” POW! But Stonefist chooses to use more conventional weaponry, so let’s take a look at his personal arsenal!

For starters, he comes with three swords, including a long sword that fits into the scabbard, which hangs off his shoulder. This is the same scabbard we saw with the Spartans and I still dig it a lot.

He also comes with a matched set of sword and short sword, each with more pronounced leaf-shaped blades. All of the swords have painted silver blades and copper painted hilts. Thanks to the scabbard and the back loop, so long as he keeps one blade in hand, he can carry all three.

Stonefist also features this beautiful shield. It’s the same mold we saw with the Spartans, but with a brand new deco. The front surface is painted with a very classic looking Greek face with the eyes scratched out. So cool! Again, we have some great looking gold paint and the hammered pattern sculpted into the shield is fantastic. The shield uses the same elongated clip to wrap around the figure’s forearm and there’s a grip for the hand to grasp, but I still find it very difficult to get the hand wrapped around the grip. It’s not necessary to equip the shield on the figure, but it does look better if you’re posing him with the inside of the shield on display.

Lastly, we have the spear, which has been no stranger to this line as just about all the human figures I’ve looked at have had one. Hey, I’m not complaining, as these are beautifully painted accessories and both the tip and the butt cap are pretty damn sharp too!

Stonefist is without a doubt one of the most colorful characters in this line (both literally and figuratively!) and I’m really glad that I added him to my selection way back when the Kickstarter ended. I believe most of the HACKS figures are still available through Boss Fight’s website and when last I checked, Stonefist was priced at $19.99. Twenty bucks may sound like a lot for a 4-inch figure, but the truth is that it’s easy to see where the money went. The number of accessories combined with the excellent design and careful paintwork make this figure well worth the money to me. In fact, just opening him up and playing with him this evening has made me doubly anxious to start checking out the rest!